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Robert’s at Pepper Tree
Halls Rd, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley NSW
Out There magazine - Issue 28
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An 1876 ironbark cottage is the setting for one of the Hunter Valley’s finest restaurants, run by Robert and Sally Molines. Robert’s Italian/French background is evident in both the menu and the ambience of the restaurant, where platters of fresh produce, vases of sunflowers, dressers filled with blue and white china, antiques and a wood-fired oven add a homely touch. The oven, fuelled by vine clippings, produces wonderful dishes such as roast duck, rack of lamb and slow-roasted baby goat. There’s an extensive selection of entrees but the roast figs stuffed with gorgonzola, wrapped in prosciutto and served with a gorgonzola cream sauce, are the highlight, the salty prosciutto and gorgonzola a counterbalance for the sweet figs. An assiette of desserts provides a small taste of various sweet dishes, such as sticky date pudding, flourless chocolate cake, lemon curd pastry and a shotglass of coconut semifredo. There’s an extensive wine list but it seems logical to stick with a Chardonnay produced on the Molines’ estate. It doesn’t disappoint. Nearby Tower Lodge has a charge-back arrangement with Roberts, making it a convenient place to dine for lodge guests. There’s a lovely synergy between these two fine properties.
© Christine Salins
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